Maximising wine values
As the fine wine market has developed in recent years, and prices have risen, perfect provenance has become an increasingly critical factor in ensuring wines reach their maximum value at the point of exit.
This is illustrated by the success of recent ex-cellar chateau auctions, where wines across all vintages have achieved 50-100% more than their market value thanks to their proven immaculate origins. Therefore, it is crucial for investors to do all they can from the point of purchase to maximise the eventual sale value of their wines.
Storing fine wine in bond
The easiest way to prove unquestionable provenance is to store fine wine in wooden cases in bond (IB) in a bonded warehouse such as London City Bond or Octavian Vaults. Such bonded warehouses provide the optimum environment for fine wine storage, by carefully regulating temperature, humidity, and other microclimatic factors.
Bonded warehouses have often built up a trusted reputation over centuries in the UK and are also subject to strict rules, the result being an audit trail for every case stored in bond, which provides you with a solid method for tracing provenance. In addition, wines stored IB are not liable for VAT as they are considered ‘in transit’.
A case of IB wine may change hands multiple times without ever leaving the bonded warehouse which removes the risk of damage and disruption. As owner of IB wine you will hold certificates which prove your ownership of the wine as a physical asset- a significant advantage over non-physical assets such as equities which hold no inherent value, other than the paper they are printed on.
Annual storage costs IB are between £10-25 pounds to ensure this perfect provenance. Wine storage prices vary greatly depending on the location.
If you have wines in bond already, please contact us to see if we can arrange a better price.